color vs. req (noob alert!)

Neither. Colour has no impact on the efectiveness of a weapon. A gold 15^50 sword is just as powerful as a blue 15^50 sword.

Likewise, req of a weapon means jack-all - a req 9 sword deals as much damage as a req 11 sword at 14Swordsmanship.

All those colors and requirements are just to show off. Ofcourse, lower requirements are useful for classes who want to use shields/weapons from different professions, for example monks. Not that I can think of any build atm that uses 7/8/9 tactics, but that's not the point. If you want good weapons for cheap, buy a blue or purple one, nobody wants them so they're easy to get.

It doesn't, as long as you meet the req for your weapon.

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Hitting 7 tactics on a monk is also much easier than hitting 8 if you can find a req7

12-8-8-7 spread ftw

Usually, the Req 9 or Req 11 or 13 or whatever usually just matters if you are trying to equip something from out of your profession. Some monks carry swords, but they don't want to put a lot of points into tactics or strength so a sword with Req 7 or 8 is much better for them than one that is Req 13. They'd rather put those points into Healing or Protection. It's similar to a retarded Warrior that wants to carry a bow. A bow at Marksmanship 8 is better than 13 because the warrior probably wants to put more points into tactics.
If it's a weapon in your primary profession than the 8-13 req disparity probably doesn't matter much because you're likely to have a lot of points into that attribute anyways (sometimes a Req 13 can be tough though).
However, if you were to try to trade a weapon, lower reqs will improve the value of the item for the reason stated above. Lower reqs will make the item more valuable and generally gold items are more sought after (hence more valuable) than purple ones, even if they have the same stats.
That said, in game a purple item and a gold item with exactly the same stats will function the same regardless of the reqs, provided those reqs are met by appropriate attribute points.
This may be where the PvP issue comes up. Sometimes you'll find something weird (by PvE standards) like a Warrior/Elementalist. This warrior may want to put a lot of points into a single skill like Shock to do more damage and knock the opponent down. A sword with a Req 8 in strength is more useful here, because that allows this warrior to put more points into Air Magic for shock damage, but still get all the benefits of meeting the requirements of the sword for the rest of his/her skills on the bar. Again, lower reqs are generally more valuable because of this.

As the others have said, the colour of an item means nothing in the end. It determines how good the mods are on it when you find it, i.e if a blue sword drops, it can't be 15>50, but more likely 11>50. You can still modify it with maximum upgrades as long as it has an inscription slot. Noone else will be able to tell the difference. Requirments don't matter as long as you meet them, but I think there's a few skills and effects in the game that lower your attributes by 1, so I suppose there's a tiny chance that you'll run into some temporary trouble if you're using a req13 weapon with 13 in the weapon attribute and run into this.

In the end, colours and requirments are purely cosmetic. People like to have gold items with minimum requirment because the items are technically "the best", even if there's no real difference between a req9 sword and a req12 sword. Just a matter of ego.

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